Iranian Journal of Educational Sociology 2645-3460 9 July 2026 2026 07 01 Structural Relationship Model of Early Childhood Experiences and Suicidal Ideation: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Deficits and Alexithymia Structural Relationship Model of Early Childhood Experiences and Suicidal Ideation: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Deficits and Alexithymia 1 12 10.61838/ea834v65 EN Journal Article 2026 02 01 <p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The present study aimed to explain the structural relationship between early childhood experiences and suicidal ideation, with the mediating roles of emotion regulation deficits and alexithymia among university students.</p> <p><strong>Methods and Materials: </strong>This applied study employed a descriptive-correlational design based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population consisted of all students of the University of Tabriz during the 2024–2025 academic year, from whom 378 participants were selected using cluster random sampling. Data were collected using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 2003), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross &amp; John, 2003), the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (Beck, 1991), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Bagby et al., 1994). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients and structural equation modeling through SPSS-18 and AMOS-22 software.</p> <p><strong>Findings:</strong> The results indicated that adverse childhood experiences, emotion regulation deficits, and alexithymia all had significant positive effects on students’ suicidal ideation (p &lt; .01). Emotion regulation deficits and alexithymia also played significant mediating roles in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and suicidal ideation (p &lt; .01). The final model accounted for 67% of the variance in suicidal ideation.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> Adverse childhood experiences contribute to the development of suicidal ideation during university years by weakening emotional regulation capacities and increasing alexithymic traits.</p> https://qijes.com/index.php/ijes/article/download/1483/1472